


Sick Day

by sadbabyosborn (arka_r)



Series: Siblings AU [1]
Category: Ultimate Spider-Man (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Siblings, Cutesy, Gen, child fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-07
Updated: 2015-01-07
Packaged: 2018-03-06 12:41:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3134885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arka_r/pseuds/sadbabyosborn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Little Harry drank expired milk by accident.</p><p>A part of my Siblings!AU. What if Harry and Peter have sisters of their own?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sick Day

**Author's Note:**

> i started this AU as a joke with my [bae](http://spidey-nova.tumblr.com) because i can't get over with USM!verse superdad!Norman. now i can't stop writing it. i need help.
> 
> also fun fact: i just found out that fanfiction is illegal in my country. someone needs to put me in jail.

Now that the children were asleep, Norman could do his inventing peacefully. He loved both his children to death and would never trade them for anything, but he still loved a moment for himself to create and invent things. It was in his nature to tinker and problem-solve things; and thankfully his sweet daughter, Louise, appeared to inherit the trait from him. She wouldn’t be put to sleep if she knew that he was about to head to the lab. It was why he was late to the lab tonight; he was supposed to be only pretending to sleep next to her, but somehow he fell asleep for real and only to wake up at two in the morning.

 

As he passed the hallway, he could hear a muffled groan. Norman stopped on his track. It definitely came from his six-years old son’s room. Why would Harry still awake this late? Cautiously, he knocked at the door. “Harry?”

 

“Dad…?” small voice came from inside the room, followed with another pained groan. Panic-o-meter in Norman’s head started to blare in alarming manner.

 

“Son, are you alright?” he tried not to burst into the room, but it was close call. Norman had promised that he would always put Harry’s privacy above anything else… barring a life-threatening situation, of course. Harry had been always too sensitive and Norman didn’t want to break his son’s trust without making it certain that he was in real danger.

 

“I… I don’t think so”, Harry squeaked.

 

“Can I come inside?” Norman was starting to get impatient. What happened to his son? Did he get sick? Did he caught something from his schoolmates? For all he knew, first-graders were like plague rats, spreading germs in everything they touched. What if it was something worse than common flu?

 

“Y-yes. One moment…”

 

Not a minute later, the door creaked open and Harry stood behind it. His son looked bad. He was sweating buckets and colors had drained from his face. His auburn hair was a mess, sticking to every directions.

 

“Harry? What happened??” Norman knelt and gently placed a hand over his son’s forehead. 

 

“I… I don’t know. My stomach hurts”, Harry leaned to him. It was only then Norman realized that his son had been clutching at his stomach. His panic-o-meter had risen over the roof as his mind started to list conditions that could cause abdominal pain; appendicitis, gastroenteritis, hemorrhage, bladder infection, hepatitis, _tumor_.

 

“Did you throw up?” Norman asked. Oh God, what if his son got tumor? Would he die? He needed to take him to the hospital ASAP.

 

“Y-yes… Twice.” That caused Norman to relax a little, but only a little. Gastrointestinal condition then, and whatever it was, Harry’s body had worked it out of his system.

 

“Did you ate something weird for dinner?” Norman asked again while he tried to remember what they had for dinner eight hours ago. Chinese takeouts from Wang’s place, he recalled. Harry loved their beef szechuan. Did they not prepare the food hygienically? Should he file a complaint?

 

“N-no. Just… just the takeout. And milk”, Harry let out another pained groan.

 

Norman’s brain screeched to a halt. Milk? “But… but…” Then he remembered. “You drank the milk on the fridge? I _told_ you it was expired!”

 

“I forgot! I’m—I’m sorry, Dad…” Harry paled. The fear in his blue eyes caused Norman to kick himself mentally.

 

“No, no, no… It was my fault. I didn’t throw it right away. I’m sorry I caused you pain, Harry”, Norman hugged his son and tried to lift him up… when he realized that Harry had grown considerably heavier since the last time he carried his son up. When was that? Oh, last year. Apparently, kindergarteners thought it was embarrassing to be carried by their parents. They thought it made them look like babies.

 

Harry’s next groan kicked Norman back to the real world. Right. Hospital.

 

“Get your jacket and wait me at the door. I'm going to get your sister”, Norman released Harry from the hug. Harry nodded and did as he was told. His son had been always the obedient one of his children.

 

Once Norman was sure his son wouldn’t fall on his feet, he rushed to the bedroom across the hallway. Now to get the spoiled one amongst his children.

 

\--

 

Louise was not happy to be woken up way too early. The four-years old was crying half-heartedly as Norman secured her into the child seat in the car… and still crying and whining the whole car ride. Harry threw up again in the car and Norman was too worried to care about the interior of his car. If Harry was not struggling to keep the rest of his stomach’s content _inside_ his stomach, he would be sulking for getting his favorite Super Man PJ’s dirty.

 

Once they got into the hospital, Norman picked Louise up and took Harry’s hand into his as he guided him to the ER. They attracted quite an attention, which was good because soon, a kind looking nurse approached them.

 

“My son drank expired milk”, Norman explained to her as they got Harry into one of the cots. Her nametag read ‘Dr. Helen’. _Oops_. She was the ER doctor then.

 

“Did he threw up?” she asked.

 

“Yes.”

 

“What colour it was?”

 

That caused Norman’s eyebrows went over his hairline. “I… don’t know. Is it important?”

 

“If his vomit is brown, it means he got internal bleeding and the blood got into his bowel”, she explained almost too calmly. Her explanation caused Norman to scream mentally. How bad it could get?

 

“But he’s going to be alright?” Norman pushed.

 

“We’re going to monitor him, but if it’s only food poisoning, he only needs to stay hydrated. Antibiotic is not necessary”, she replied, which reassured Norman more than anything.

 

\--

 

After he cleared the administration, Norman sat next to Harry’s cot, on a chair that one of the male nurses provided to him. It was only then he realized what he was wearing; a black night robe with tiny yellow Batman patterns on it, a burgundy pajama bottom, and a pair of white flip-flops.

 

The robe was a gift for his thirty-second birthday from Harry, with a bit of the Parkers’ help undoubtedly. Harry reasoned it was because Batman was rich and smart, just like his dad. It was Norman’s most precious possession in the world, along with his children’s drawings of their small family.

 

Louise was asleep on his lap, her tiny mouth opening slightly. At least it was an improvement from half an hour before when she was whining almost non-stop. Norman put a finger under her chin to close her mouth, but it opened again not a moment later.

 

Harry was still in so much pain, so Norman had stolen a few medical gloves and made balloons out of them to cheer him up. It distracted Harry enough, at least, until he fell asleep at four in the morning. At six, Norman hadn’t caught a wink of sleep and somehow managed to stay awake from cheap canned coffee that he bought from the vending machine. At eight, Harry was allowed his own room; VIP class, of course, he had all the money to spare for his son’s comfort. Norman called the Parkers to pick Louise up. He didn’t think it was good for her to stay at the hospital and he wasn’t sure he was alert enough to drive her to the Parkers’ residence.

 

Norman was dozing off on the armchair when he heard the Parkers’ arrival; May and Ben, and even little Peter and Erica. He rubbed off sleep from his face and moved to stand up.

 

“Oh, no! Please don’t stand up for our sake”, Ben smiled reassuringly. “I know how it feels to catch a nod off when the children need to be hospitalized. How is Harry?”

 

Norman turned to the bed. Harry was still sleeping, though sometimes he was wincing in pain. Meanwhile, Louise was positively snoring, lying face down on the couch. He turned back to the Parkers. “Better, I guess. He threw up his breakfast, though.”

 

“Poor baby”, May sighed. She had her niece, Erica, in one hand and a bag in another. Swiftly, she set down the bag on the table. It was filled with assorted sandwiches and a bottle of freshly made herbal tea. Norman’s stomach was growling from the sight of real food.

 

“Thank you. I haven’t managed to get a bite”, he told her as he moved to grab a sandwich. It was filled with a slice of smoked beef and cheddar cheese and tasted like heaven. Bless.

 

“I remember when Pete was hospitalized because of broken leg. May was in Japan for work, so I had to look after him alone. That was such a nightmare”, Ben patted Peter’s head. The small boy was looking at Harry with wide eyes.

 

“Ith Harry dead?” Peter looked up to his uncle. “Can’t I play with him anymore?”

 

Norman laughed at the boy’s question, so did Ben. Ben ruffled Peter’s head, causing the boy to yelp in surprise. Norman stood up and walked to Harry’s bed. Gently, he held his son’s hand.

 

May poured a cup of tea which she offered to Norman. He accepted it gratefully. The tea made him relaxed, although only a little. Ben was explaining to Peter that, no, Harry was not dead. Erica bounded next to Norman, so he picked her up and walked back to the Parkers so she wouldn’t disturb Harry’s sleep. Call him overprotective, but he wouldn’t let anyone to wake his son up at this point. Even if it was an adorable two-and-a-half years old girl.

 

“Daddy”, Louise called from the couch. Apparently, the noise had woken her up. Norman gave Erica back to Ben and picked up his own daughter.

 

“Hey, Sugar”, Norman called. Her body was warm to the touch, probably from lack of sleep. She did slept at three last night, way off from her usual bedtime at nine. Sleepily, she laid her head on his shoulder. “What do you think about staying over at Aunt May’s house?”

 

“Mmm”, she mumbled, but Norman could feel her giving tiny nod. “M’sleepy. Can we goes now?”

 

“Your dad needs to look after your brother, Honey. He’s very sick so your dad needs to be with him”, May came and gave her head gentle pat. “You can sleep on the car.”

 

As Norman was about to give her away, Louise started to whimper and gripped Norman’s night robe tightly. He sighed. Of course she decided to be difficult now.

 

“Louise”, he tried to use his stern voice, but it came out as tired.

 

“I don’ wanna! Daddy comes too!” she wailed. She was vibrating now and Norman could sense a loud wail just a few seconds away. He wouldn’t let that happen; Harry needed his rest. Yet, he didn’t think he could raise his voice to her. He swore he wouldn’t raise his voice to his children, not anymore.

 

He didn’t know what to do.

 

Without words, May took Louise into her arms. It was quite hard, seeing that she was still gripping at his robe tightly. Ben helped to pry her fingers off, which made Louise cry even louder. Norman felt a pang of guilt as the Parkers took her away. He could still hear her screams from the hallway along with Ben and May’s hushed words. Slowly, he sat back down on the chair next to Harry’s bed.

 

At the moments like this, he wished that Emily was still alive. Norman was always impatient, always rushing into things head on. Emily, though… she was like an anchor to him. She was steady and strong. She had her ways with children that he always envied. She would know what to do when Louise was being difficult. She would give him comfort at times like this, encourage him to be strong.

 

“Daddy…?” small voice called him from the bed. He turned and saw Harry awake, although it was clear that he was still tired.

 

“Hello, Sunshine. Did we wake you up?” Norman smiled at his son. Harry nodded and rubbed his stomach idly. Norman could feel another wave of panic starting to rise.

 

“Where does it hurt?” he placed his hand over Harry’s stomach, under Harry’s hand. Weird how children seemed to gain a growth spurt when he wasn’t looking. He was sure this was a baby he carried with him everywhere after Emily’s death.

 

“Not hurt”, Harry said weakly. “Hungry.”

 

“Oh”, Norman blinked. Of course. Harry had thrown up his breakfast that the nurse spoon-fed him about an hour ago. “How about I call a nurse to bring you another bowl?”

 

“Can’t I eat pizza?” Harry asked. Norman couldn’t help chuckling at that question.

 

“I don’t know, Son. Let me consult with the doctor first”, he replied. Harry seemed disheartened at his answer, and Norman felt another pang of guilt. “Hey, how about this. You get back healthy and we’ll go to that pizza place that you like. Sounds good?”

 

“Yeah”, Harry nodded and gave him a weak smile.

 

\--

 

The nurse got Harry another bowl of plain porridge with a few cut fruits and warm soy milk. Harry refused to be spoon-fed and chose to eat by himself. Much to Norman’s relief, this time the food stayed down, thank fuck. While Harry was eating, Norman called his PA that he wouldn’t be able to come to work today because his son was at hospital, which, as a mother of two small children, she could relate a lot. She arrived at the hospital bringing paperworks and a bag full of fresh clothes for him and Harry.

 

After showering, Norman felt more like human again. He changed his ridiculous (precious, yes, but still ridiculous) night robe into plain white shirt and khakis. Harry was pouting because he was still confined to bed, and thus not able to shower like his dad. He was allowed a sponge bath, though, and was quite happy when the nurse allowed him to change clothes. As it turned out, Norman’s PA brought also Harry’s Justice League PJ’s, which made Harry over the moon.

 

Around ten, a doctor came to check Harry and gave Norman the lab result. Harry was cleared from viral infection and his own system would combat the bacterial infection by itself. He still needed the IV, though, just in case he started throwing up again.

 

He didn’t, which made Norman breathe a little bit easier. At twelve, after he finished reading some papers that his PA brought in, he decided to walk around to ease the tension off his muscles. He found a bookstore at the hospital’s lobby. Of course there was a couple prints of Super Man comics. He bought them on a whim. Harry was delighted to read his favorite superhero comics. He was reading it while Norman was sprawling on the couch and sleep like dead.

 

When Norman woke up, it was three in the afternoon and Ben was coming with Louise. The little girl was sitting next to her brother, while Harry was reading the comic to her. Norman stared in amazement. It was such a rare sight, his daughter was silent for once.

 

“Where’s May and the other children?” he asked Ben.

 

“At home. May took half-day off to nanny them”, Ben answered. He was sitting on the armchair, but Norman knew his attention was on the children.

 

“I’m sorry that you had to skip off work”, Norman said.

 

“Nah, it’s fine. That’s the perk of owning my own business. I get to decide when to have day offs”, Ben waved him off.

 

“That I can relate”, Norman chuckled. He grabbed a leftover sandwich from the table and took a big bite.

 

“Daddy, can’t you make fwog guns? Like potato guns but it shootes fwogs?” Louise asked from the bed. Norman had to pause chewing at his daughter’s question. Sometimes Louise would ask bizarre questions, but this by far was the most bizarre.

 

“I don’t think it’ll be good for the frogs, Baby”, he replied, casting questioning look at Ben.

 

“She just found out that Peter is afraid of frogs”, Ben said helpfully.

 

Norman rolled his eyes. Figures. Of course she would think a way to scare off other children. As the alpha of the group, Norman figured that she had to assert her dominance one way or another. Even Harry was afraid of her.

 

“Louise Osborn, what did I told you about bullying other kids?” he sighed.

 

“That bully-ings is bad and I shudn’t do it”, Louise answered obediently, before her face turned serious. “But Petew says I can’t play with twucks because Im’a giwls. Aun’May pinches his eaws tho!”

 

“Then he is punished enough. You don’t need to scare Peter off anymore”, Norman walked to the bed and gave her head a pat. She folded her arms on her chest and harrumphed. Sometimes Norman wondered from which part of the family she got that stubbornness.

 

Oh. Right. From him.

 

“Dad, when I can go home?” Harry looked up to him, his blue eyes hopeful.

 

“In two or three days, maybe. Why?” Norman blinked.

 

“Oh”, Harry brightened. “Nothing, Dad. I just can’t wait to go back to school.”

 

“I’m sure you will be back to school soon enough”, Norman patted his head reassuringly. Harry was never bright at school. He didn’t have a sharp mind like his sister, or her neverending curiosity about how things worked. What he did have was his diligence and persistence to learn. That, and that he was a pretty good artist.

 

Harry smiled brightly at the promise.

 


End file.
